


Sunrise

by Ailendolin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Everybody Lives, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 15:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18719857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailendolin/pseuds/Ailendolin
Summary: AVENGERS: ENDGAME SPOILERSIn another life, another branch reality, Loki gets to keep his promise."I assure you, Brother. The sun will shine on us again.“





	Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, folks! Don't read this story if you haven't seen the movie. 
> 
> So, I saw this movie last Monday and have been itching to write a version of Endgame in which Loki's words in Infinity War had an actual meaning. This is the result. I hope you enjoy it! The story isn't beta-read and since I'm not a native speaker, I apologize for any mistakes you may find. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned here. They are the property of Marvel / Disney.

**Sunrise**

His plan, made up on the spot in panic as it was, had been simple enough: die a hero, go to Valhalla, come back to life with a little help and extra power from the Norns, take Thanos by surprise and kill him.

Loki was no fool, though. While he was certain his plan could work in theory he also knew one wrong step, one thoughtless word at the wrong time could ruin everything. The possibilities of failing were enormous compared to his chances of succeeding. He was painfully aware of all the variables in his plan he had no control over. Which manner of death was deemed heroic enough to send someone to Valhalla? Did he even stand a chance to go there since he was not an Aesir? After all the horrible things he had done and been forced to do? Would the Norns even listen to him, let alone believe and be willing to help? Could he really face Thanos again after everything that happened or would he falter at the last crucial step?

Loki had no answers to these questions. All he had was a small flicker of hope that dying for the people he loved would be enough to proof his worth and good intentions, enough to sway the Norns to give him a second chance at life and the means to defeat the Mad Titan.

 _Maybe I am a fool after all_ , Loki thought numbly as he took a deep breath and attacked Thanos with nothing but a knife. He knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against the Mad Titan – not even with magic. He’d tried that once, years ago when he realized how truly dangerous the trap he had fallen into from the Rainbow Bridge was. His magic was nothing compared to the power Thanos had wielded even back then and Loki had crumbled before him like a broken doll, ready to be picked up and used against his will.

Loki knew Thanos wouldn’t forgive disobedience a second time, let alone an outright attack against him. He counted on it when he charged forward and embraced the pain that followed. His death wouldn’t make a difference in the here and now, not in the grand scheme of things, but maybe it would give him the chance to win this fight in the long run. He owed it to himself, to Thor and to every living thing in this galaxy to at least try.

“You took a huge gamble there,” his mother commented softly after he woke up on a soft bed beneath the golden shields of Valhalla. It had been a shock to see her again, as lovely and caring and _alive_ as he remembered. He’d almost forgotten how beautiful and radiant she had been and his eyes had blurred with tears when she smiled at him and said, “Welcome home, my son.”

He had told her everything, then, beginning with an apology for the part he might have played in her death which she waved aside with a gentle, forgiving smile, and finishing with his plan to defeat Thanos. “It is a gamble that might pay off. The first part already worked. I’m here, after all, am I not?”

His mother’s lips twitched and only years, centuries, of being the Allmother and Queen of Asgard kept her grin at bay. “That you are, Loki.”

Her eyes were full of pride and Loki allowed himself a moment to bask in it. But his journey was far from over. Dying and going to Valhalla had only been the start. Getting an audience with the Norns was next on his list – and it turned out to be much harder than he had anticipated.

“They will only see you,” his mother told him, a worried from marring her lovely features, “when your mind is at peace. That’s what they said.”

“How can my mind be at peace when I know my brother is out there, suffering alone?” Loki seethed, pacing in his mother’s rooms. “How can it when so many lives are at stake?”

“Maybe you need not worry about those alive right now but those who are not?” his mother suggested quietly.

Loki turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“You haven’t gone to see your father yet. Or Heimdall and the Warriors Three,” his mother pointed out. “Peace of mind sometimes begins with forgiveness.”

So Loki had swallowed his pride and begun walking among the former people of Asgard. He sought out Odin first, judging this encounter the easiest of all since their talk on Midgard had been not so long ago even though it felt like a lifetime. After that Heimdall, the Warrios Three, the guards who had been killed by the Jotuns he had allowed into Asgard, all the people who perished because of Hela and Surtur, all those who died by the hands of Thanos and his minions on the ship. Every apology left him exhausted, every accusation hurled at him felt like a blow but he pushed through.

Loki had no idea how long it took him in the end to talk to everyone since time flowed differently in Valhalla but by the time he was done he felt aged beyond his years.

“Well done,” Frigga said softly, gently pulling him into her arms when it was over. “You did well, Loki.”

* * *

The Norns agreed to see him the next day.

His mother and father both accompanied him and spoke in his favor. Almost all his life Loki had longed to hear them speak so highly of him. Now that the moment was here it left him feeling hollow instead of triumphant. He wasn’t the golden son and he never would be. He’d made his peace with that. He was Loki – trickster, Jotun, troublemaker, outsider, tactician, maker-of-plans, shapeshifter – and that was enough. The universe didn’t need two Thors. Neither had Asgard. It had needed Thor and Loki, together, side by side.

Loki wished it hadn’t taken him so long to realize that. 

“Stop,” he bid his parents, remembering the look on Thor’s face, desperate and broken and betrayed after Loki had told Thanos he would side with him. “Just stop, please,” he whispered. “I think we all know who I am. What I am. There have been enough lies told by our family and I wish it to stop.” He swallowed hard before looking up at the imposing and threatening figures of the Norns. “I know you have no reason to help me. I’m not a hero. I’m not even a good person. But I made a promise to my brother and I intend to keep it. I have to – for his sake, if not for mine.”

“What did you promise?” one of the Norns asked in a deep, rumbling voice Loki felt in his very bones.

He had no doubt the Norns knew very well what his words to Thor had been but still he said, “I promised him hope where there was none.”

“A mighty promise,” another one of the Norns said. “A dangerous promise.”

“But not impossible,” Loki insisted. He bowed before the three figures. “With your help I can keep it.”

The Norns turned to each other, wordlessly discussing his fate and that of the universe. It felt like ages until they turned back to him, but it might have been just seconds or minutes. Valhalla was timeless like that.

“Very well,” one of the Norns said and relief flooded through Loki. Another battle won. “We shall grant your wish, Loki of Asgard. But like everything in life and death it comes at a cost. There will be no more second chances for you. No matter what happens, Valhalla will be closed to you forever after we send you back. You won’t be able to return here, not even if you die a hero’s death again. Those are our terms. Will you accept them?”

Loki looked at his father, at his mother, and knew he would never see them again. He smiled at them one last time, drank in the love in their eyes that was only for him and swore never to forget this moment, and nodded.

The deal was struck.

* * *

The Norns transported him directly to Midgard, to a place in Norway that was both achingly familiar and vastly different from how he remembered it. He was shocked to learn how much time had passed since he’d died. Years. It hadn’t felt that long in Valhalla and he wished he could have come back sooner.

“You cannot change the past,” the Norns told him as if reading his mind. He wouldn’t be surprised if they were. “What’s done is done. But you can shape the present and thus the future. Without your interference people will die, others will be bereft of those they love. Their fate now rests in your hands. You have one chance, Loki of Asgard. Use it wisely.”

Three spidery hands reached out to touch his forehead and Loki felt power unlike anything he’s ever known course through him. It would be almost intoxicating if it weren’t so overwhelmingly terrifying. He held the power to create and destroy worlds with a single thought. He could cause so many things with a simple wave of his hand, both good and bad. It was so much more powerful than his magic. For the first time in his life he truly felt like a god – and he loathed it.

When he opened his eyes the Norns were gone. There was only the sea breeze left, and Loki looked down on the village that could only be New Asgard with longing and regret. He should have been here when it was built, should have helped create this new home for their people. He should have been at Thor’s side when he became the king he was destined to be – to guide him and give him counsel in times of need. Thor shouldn’t have had to carry this burden alone.

To Loki’s surprise it was not Thor he found in New Asgard but Brunnhilde. She blinked at him in shock, took one good look at him and muttered, “I’m too sober for this shit.”

Despite her words she didn’t walk away to get herself a drink. Instead she listened quietly to Loki’s explanation without interrupting once. It was only afterwards that she asked, “Do you know how much pain Thor went through because of you?”

Loki swallowed past the lump in his throat and shook his head. “I don’t. Until today I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed since my … death.”

A little self-consciously, he rubbed at his neck. Brunnhilde’s eyes followed his movement und the hard look on her face softened a little. “He hasn’t been himself since you’ve been gone. Let himself go, doesn’t care about ruling his people. He’s not who you remember.”

“Who’s ruling in his stead?” Loki asked because even the thought of Thor abandoning their people on Midgard was too painful. When Brunnhilde only smirked at him his eyes widened in realization. “You? That is … not so bad, I guess.”

Brunnhilde punched his arm in a friendly manner and shot him a grin. “Knew you’d warm up to me.”

* * *

Together they came up with a plan. Neither of them knew when the final battle would happen or how they would hear of it or get there, but they trusted someone somehow would let them know.

“I can’t be seen,” Loki stressed that evening after dinner. “It is of utmost important that no one who knows me sees me. Least of all Thor. This whole thing rides on the element of surprise and I can’t have anyone involuntarily giving me away. Including you.”

Brunnhilde gave him an unimpressed look. “So you’re going to wipe my memories I take it.” She shrugged. “Fine by me.”

“Really?”

“You’ll give them back afterwards, right?” Her eyes narrowed at him. “Right?”

Loki waited a few seconds to answer just to see her squirm. “Of course,” he finally said smoothly, a teasing grin pulling his lips upward. “If I survive, that is.”

“You better,” she said with a vehemence that surprised him. “Thor can’t bear to see you die again.”

Loki’s grin faltered. The last thing he wanted was to put his brother through more grief. “I’ll do my best to make it out alive,” he swore solemnly.

For a moment they were both quiet, lost in thought and staring at the crackling fire in the hearth. Then an idea crossed Loki’s mind and he turned to Brunnhilde with the familiar feeling of mischief running through his veins. “What do you think about riding into battle on a Pegasus?”

* * *

“I can’t believe you can turn into a horse.”

Loki raised his eyebrow at her. “Are you truly surprised? Thor did tell you on Sakaar about how I tricked him when we were children by pretending to be a snake. He wasn’t lying, you know? Your lack of faith in my shapeshifting abilities is disappointing, to be quite frank.”

“Shut up,” she said and he stepped out of the way before she could punch him. “A Pegasus is a little more complex than a snake. I didn’t know you were that powerful.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Loki told her with a grin.

Brunnhilde smirked. “Does that mean the stories about Sleipnir are true?”

“What do you think?” Loki challenged her. Above them the sky rumbled and effectively ended the joking between them. “It is almost time. I can feel it. Something is happening.”

Brunnhilde clasped his shoulder in goodbye. “See you on the other side?”

Loki nodded. “Good luck. Try not to get killed.”

“You, too.”

Loki raised his hands and wiped her memories before he transformed into a Pegasus. Brunnhilde blinked as if she had just woken up from a dream and looked around in confusion, wondering why she was standing on the hill just outside New Asgard instead of the docks. She frowned when she saw him. “Where did you come from?”

Loki neighed and stomped his hooves nervously. Down in the town square a portal opened and the last thing Loki thought was, _Strange, of course it would be Strange_ , before Brunnhilde grabbed his mane and pulled herself onto his back.

“Never mind, let’s go! Asgardians, to me!” she shouted and they charged into battle.

* * *

In the end his plan had worked almost a little too easily. Loki soared above the battlefield with Brunnhilde on his back, slaying enemies left and right and gaining a good overview of the situation on the ground at the same time. When he finally spotted his brother, Captain Rogers and Tony Stark below, he waited for the right moment, the right opportunity to fake a fatal wound and tumble to the ground. The crash hurt but he made sure Brunnhilde was not harmed by protecting her with his wings. She gave him one last sad look before she was on her feet again and running into the fray, a fierce look on her face.

Loki waited until she was out of sight before he shapeshifted into an Asgardian warrior. With his knives in both hands he made his way closer to his brother and his friends, biding his time. It finally came when Tony Stark crashed into a rock, just slightly out of sight of Thanos. Loki teleported next to him. He put his hand on the red and golden armor, felt for the person beneath it and was relieved to find Tony Stark alive and breathing, albeit unconscious. In a matter of seconds he created an illusion that would keep the inventor safe and hidden until it was all over.

Then he reached for the gauntlets of the Iron Man armor. “Forgive me,” he whispered as they came lose with magic and fitted themselves around his hands. “Illusions only get yourself so far.”

With one last look at Tony Stark Loki shapeshifted to resemble the unconscious man on the ground in both body and armor. He rejoined the battle as Iron Man with none but him the wiser.

When the time came to face Thanos again Loki didn’t falter like he feared he would. He thought about his parents, no doubt waiting anxiously for news from Midgard. He thought about Tony Stark, lying broken at the bottom of a pile of rubble. He thought about Steve Rogers, battered, bruised and on the ground with his shield broken and still trying to push himself back up to his feet even though he had nothing left to give. He thought of his brother, a former shadow of himself and so different from whom he could have been, and it pained him to have caused Thor to throw away his potential like that – to give up all hope because it had taken Loki too long to come back to him.

His own struggles, fears and trauma were pushed to the back of his mind when Loki finally clashed with Thanos. He didn’t think about what was or what should have been. This wasn’t about regret or guilt or the horrors of the past. He had the opportunity to do something good here, to change the universe for the better and he seized it.

The stones attached themselves to Stark’s gauntlet before Thanos knew what was happening. The surprised look on the titan’s face was more gratifying than the outcome of any plans of revenge Loki had had over the years could possibly have been. It got even better when Loki shapeshifted back into his normal Aesir body and Thanos realized who had tricked him.

He grinned at Thanos. “I am,” he began, holding up his right hand with the gauntlet that held the Infinity Stones for all the world to see, “Loki, Prince of Asgard!”

With a snap of his fingers Thanos and his army turned to dust, and pain, unimaginable and worse than anything Thanos had ever done to him, engulfed Loki. He screamed and crumbled to the ground as the power of the Stones burned through his body. On the edge of consciousness he could feel his brother’s hands on his face, cool against the heat inside of him, and he heard him whisper fiercely, “Stay with me, Loki!”

He had missed that voice dearly.

Then someone began pulling on his hands – no, not his hands, on the gauntlet – and Loki opened his eyes to see Steve Rogers with a determined expression on his exhausted face using the last of his strength to do what Thor in his grief didn’t have the presence of mind to do: tear off the gauntlets and sever the connection between Loki and the Infinity Stones.

All Loki could do was watch as the Captain tugged and pulled with increasing desperation. When the gauntlet finally fell away Loki took a deep shuddering breath. The pain didn’t stop, not completely, but it dulled to a tolerable throbbing in his right arm. He glanced down, saw the charred remains of his skin – dark blue with markings – and wasn’t surprised that the power of the Stones had burned even through his illusion. A look to his left hand, still pale and comfortingly familiar, made him sigh in relief and thank the Norns that at least that part of his magic had survived the onslaught of the Infinity Stones.

“Loki,” Thor whispered in a choked voice.

Loki smiled at him. “I am all right, Brother.”

“How?” Thor asked at the same time Steve Rogers inquired, “Where is Tony?”

Loki pointed to a pile of rubble and lifted the illusion with a shaking hand. “There, Captain. He is fine, I promise you. Merely unconscious and a little battered.” He paused and met Steve Roger’s eyes. “As are you. I suggest you both get medical help.”

The captain nodded, and with one last heartfelt, “Thank you, Loki,” he pushed his tired body up once more and staggered over to Tony Stark’s prone form.

Loki turned back to Thor. “The Norns granted me the power to defeat Thanos,” he explained. _And live_ , he added mentally. Anyone could have defeated Thanos with the right idea, the right timing and the right element of surprise. Surviving was the tricky part. But he’d done it, even if it had cost him the use of his right arm and a good amount of his magic on top of all the power the Norns had bestowed upon him.

The smile Thor graced him with made it all worth it. He’d never felt better.

“I have missed you,” Thor choked out before he buried his face in Loki’s chest.

Carefully, Loki wrapped his left arm around his brother and held him close. For the first time in centuries he truly felt at peace.

“I’ve missed you, too, you big oaf,” he whispered fondly.

* * *

After the attack Loki spent almost a month in the hospital. He wasn’t the only one. Steve Rogers was there for a week, Tony Stark for two, and a boy named Peter Parker stayed in his hospital room for all of one day before he decided he was well enough to sneak out and visit his friends. Loki was more than a little surprised when the Spiderchild appeared in his room one night after visiting hours are over.

“Hello, Mr. Loki,” Peter said with a bright smile when Loki opened his eyes. “I’m Peter Parker, or Spider-Man, whatever you prefer. I’m Mr. Stark’s intern and I just wanted to tell you how awesome it was what you did!”

Loki blinked at him. “Uhm, thank you?”

Peter pulled his chair closer to the bed. “I’m not supposed to know but I heard Mr. Thor telling Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers how you did it and,” he lowered his voice, “I think you saved Mr. Stark’s life.”

“I just hid him from prying eyes,” Loki told him. “It was nothing.”

Peter shook his head and his eyes landed on Loki’s charred arm. “No, I mean when you took the Iron Man gauntlet. I’m sure Mr. Stark would have tried to take the Stones from that big purple guy, too, only I don’t think he would have survived using them. Not like you. You had the power of the …uh, what was their name again? Those old ladies of fate?”

“The Norns,” Loki supplied helpfully, an amused smile on his lips. “Don’t call them old, though. They don’t like that.”

Peter nodded. “Noted. Anyway, I’m glad Mr. Stark didn’t have to use the Stones, and I’m glad you’re all right and made that purple douche bite the dust.”

The honesty in Peter’s voice combined with the earnest look in his wide, young eyes made Loki’s heart ache in the best possible way. This was why he had fought Thanos and risked everything – so that people like Peter wouldn’t have to know the kind of grief Loki was all too familiar with.

“What about you?” Loki asked. “Are you all right?”

For a moment Peter looked startled. “Huh,” he said. “No one’s asked me that yet.” Then a smile broke out on his face. “But yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a little weird that five years have passed since … well, you know. To some people time has not been kind. They look _old_.”

Loki couldn’t help himself: he laughed. It made his whole body ache and Peter looked at him a little worriedly but it felt liberating. If only the boy knew how many centuries Loki had seen come and go. Maybe he would tell him, one day. For now he said, “I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, Peter Parker.”

* * *

Over the weeks he spent at the hospital various people tried their hands at healing his burned arm. No matter how often Loki told them that it didn’t hurt that much, that he could deal with it and no, he didn’t have any feeling left besides the pain, they refused to give up. He found their stubbornness quite remarkable and felt a little humbled by their efforts, though he didn’t tell them that.

Bruce Banner tried first and although Loki still couldn’t help being uncomfortable in his presence he allowed him to treat him. Nothing Banner tried worked. After him, Lady Eir combined the forces of magic from Asgard, Dr. Strange and Wanda Maximoff to help him. They failed, too. Tony Stark hired the most brilliant doctors and scientists he could find and Princess Shuri from Wakanda tried her best as well but magical wounds were no match for Midgardian medicine, no matter how sophisticated. Steve Rogers even offered to give him some blood in the hopes that the serum that gave him his healing factor might help. Loki politely reclined.

In the end it was Bucky Barnes who made the only logical and sensible suggestion.

“Why don’t we just amputate the arm and be done with it?”

While Thor raged and the color drained from Peter’s face Loki smiled. “Finally someone has a good idea!”

He and Bucky became metal-arm-friends after that.

* * *

After nearly four weeks Loki finally went home. He looked at New Asgard, a shadow of the place he grew up in, and smiled. It would take time to get used to it, until it truly felt like home, but with Thor and Brunnhilde at his side he knew they could make this place flourish. Brunnhilde would continue to lead the people, at least for a while, until both Thor and Loki were ready to be King and Prince again. Loki had no doubt she would excel at her duties. She was a born leader, and a good person.

For the first time in years Loki and Thor had time to relearn what it meant to be brothers and friends. They spoke a lot in the days following their return. There were smiles and tears and sometimes angry shouts shared between them but at the end of the day it always brought them closer together instead of further apart. Slowly they closed the chasm that had separated them for so long. Wounds that had festered for years and decades were finally mending until they were both at peace with their past, themselves and each other.

* * *

Months had passed since the battle when Loki woke up before dawn, shaken by hazy memories and horrible what-ifs. Unable to fall asleep he dressed warmly and went outside. The air was cool and chilly as he made his way to a spot on the hill, overlooking the ocean, that he favored above all others in his new home. Today he wasn’t the only one seeking it out.

“Good morning, Brother,” he greeted softly so as not to startle Thor during his morning exercises.

Thor turned around and beamed at him. “Good morning, Loki. Couldn’t sleep?”

For a brief moment Loki thought about telling him about his dream, about the feeling of phantom fingers snapping his neck and a future more bleak and sad than the one they had made for themselves. In the end he decided against it. The morning was too beautiful to tarnish it with darkness.

He breathed in the fresh air while the sky on the horizon slowly lightened with the first touches of dawn. “I thought I’d watch the sunrise. Join me?”

Together, they sat down on Thor’s cape, shoulders touching comfortably. They watched in silence as the sun appeared on the horizon, turning the sea and the sky pink and orange and golden. It was breathtaking and reminded Loki so much of their old home on Asgard that he reached for Thor’s hand with his good one and intertwined their fingers.

“See, Brother? I promised you the sun will shine on us again. And it does.”

Thor turned away from the horizon. His smile was almost as brilliant as the sunrise. “I’m glad we’re here, Loki. Together.”

Loki squeezed his hand before he turned back towards the sun and the sea. “So am I.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! You can find me on tumblr at ailendolin.tumblr.com =)


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